Rooty

@Nontendo_4DS For the most part, yes. Animal Well just isn't clicking with me. There are both better Metroidvanias out there and better puzzle platformers out there in my estimation. Heck, Braid is one of them.

It's interesting that the public score for Animal Well is a couple of points out of step with the critical one here. I am an avid gamer who usually loves Metroidvanias but I've played Animal Well and have to say I...just don't get it. It's perfectly alright, but honestly that's all it is to me. It's so odd to see the gaming press absolutely fawning over this game the way it has.

Let's-a-go to the Antipodes!

@CooCooKaChoo Sure am. Amazing little game that doesn't try to be anything other than what it is, but does that so well.

Much to the disapproval of my dog I have been playing (and completing)...Cat Quest.

Tis a pawfectly reasonable way to pass the time.

As a Brit who has next to no working knowledge of city life in America this comment section has been illuminating. And troubling.

Of course Sakurai is massively downplaying the issue of character balancing in Smash. There's a reason Nintendo has an infamously prickly relationship with the fighting game tournament scene after all, and a big part of that is because of their philosophy that the game should be seen as inclusive to players of all skill levels. They don't want Smash cultivating an image as some super hardcore fighting game only accessible to 'pro gamers' because they're worried that would limit its appeal to the masses. The real news would be if the game director said anything other than 'sure guys, you can play who you want and still have a great time!'.

Edit: Not that I think the man's actually wrong. Smash really is well balanced given its ludicrous roster size.

Compelling narrative and perfect cast aside, If Link doesn't say 'it's Zeldin' time!' at least once during the film's runtime can we really class it a success?

Can't wait for the big twist in the third act that Ganon was merely a puppet for the true dark lord of Hyrule, Tingle.

This smells like Nintendo having beef with specific retailers rather than a genuine shift in their sales policy.

It's good, but it's no Jelly Boy.

I kid, I kid. Super Mario Land is one of my earliest gaming memories and I'm stoked to be able to revisit it today.

Obligatory 'Ms. Mowz 4 Smash' comment.

Also known as the 'I forgot to ask my PA to read the Wikipedia entry for this franchise' answer. Nicely dodged sir.

It's bananas to think this is where the company is after the absolute trainwreck of the Wii U years (from a business standpoint). Congratulations to those who soldiered on when it seemed at times like Nintendo were on the slippery slope to obscurity in the console space, what a comeback story this has been.

Never played it, but was a big fan of the first. The sequel always struck me as unnecessary and lacking in charm compared to the original, but I'd love to be proven wrong on that front. Will definitely wait for a sale before considering a purchase though.

This is actually a pretty nifty way to get people to investigate something that they mightn't otherwise give a second thought to precisely because of the 'it's a 20 year old game' mentality. People can see for themselves if they can deal with the inherent jankiness of some of the systems before committing to the purchase. KOTOR remains a good game and a cracking Star Wars narrative even a couple of decades on from release, so this seems an entirely appropriate use of the Game Trial system.

@PinderSchloss That can't possibly be true. Might be enforceable for written instances as it's a brand name but no contract is going to oblige a director to censor his own speech, particularly pertaining to said director's own supposed life experience.

The fact he continually refers to the property as 'Legend of Zelda' rather than just good 'ole 'Zelda' is a little...odd. I wonder which of the Legend of Zeldas was his favourite? Super Legend of Zelda, I'd hope!

This game has a seal wearing a crown in it, and you're giving it 5/10?

A SEAL. WEARING. A CROWN.

Shut up and take my money Arika.

He's here to get that next-gen Virtual Boy project greenlit at last, right? Right???

The fact every other comment here is championing a different fighter would seem to suggest Sakurai is on the money with his musings this time. Go my adorable tag teaming Ice Climbers, go!

YOU ARE A SUPER PLAYER

(just pretend I wrote that in coins.)

((in the sky.))

It's oddly heartening to know they're at least willing to pretend they'll still be supporting the game four years down the road. Optics are everything in the entertainment business, after all.

@vyseofhr So much this. If I want to brave the dread Goblin Shark's lair in search of underwater junk I can't imagine it'll have the same atmosphere with three random strangers off to the side doing underwater backflips.

@Ryu_Niiyama Wow, I thought I was the only one who liked those two equally. Most of the time they wind up on the opposite end of people's scales, but VI and XIII have been my best times with FF. Both awesome games.

The only theory I have as to the baffling absence of Super Mario Land on the service is that the game doesn't use wholly original music. But the melody it uses for the starman theme (I think it's the Galop Infernal by Offfenbach) is surely, surely in the public domain which would avoid any copyright wrangling. Beyond that I'm stumped as to why it hasn't arrived.

Hopefully this is more Puppeteer than Balan Wonderworld on the whimsy scale, but I have my doubts. What they've shown so far seems worryingly sparse in terms of actual gameplay.

@moomin You honestly can't see how someone who put time and effort into creating something for a living might be slightly peeved to know people were helping themselves to their work for free?

It's weird. The Switch has a library of over 11,000 titles and nearly all of them I'd prefer to play on my Playstation. This isn't to knock the Switch, heaven knows I genuinely adore the console and credit it with rekindling my love for Nintendo, but rather a quirk of my own gaming habits. The Switch is for those sacred big N experiences and little else around these parts. But boy have those experiences been sweet.

Might download this just to 'ooh' and 'ahh' at the pretty Pokemon images. Seeing that adorable Slowpoke card art brought back some nostalgic feels at least.

Bought 13 Sentinels: Aegis Rim since it was on sale in the Switch shop and have wanted to play it for an age. Then discovered it was 'free' on PS Plus and realised I could have been having horsey solitaire adventures right now instead. D'oh. Ah well, I can probably still justify the spend as supporting the publisher. Plus it'll be nice to have it for on the go since I'm fairly certain it'll warrant more than a couple of replays to see everything.

Wow. Did not see this coming in a month of Sundays, but I adored the first two so this is wonderful news. Not sure there's going to be enough of an audience to make for a healthy multiplayer headcount mind, fingers crossed it sells well.

I heard the game is just so good the development team decided against releasing it for fear of collapsing society as we know it overnight.

I'd have said Nintendo's ninja lawyers might come sniffing around this 'pastiche' but I doubt they want the embarrassment of legally admitting the CDi games exist.

That's the spirit.

If you don't come down hard on illegal activities that have the potential of turning into entire underground industries then how do you stop the problem from growing?

Good gravy, what a waste of effort on something that was never going to fly in the face of the Nintendo ninjas. What possesses people to forge ahead with these things?

Wait, were these people dismissed or suspended? The article uses both without making it especially clear.

Come on, 'fess up. Who are the 4% giving this masterpiece 1/10 in the poll? Have we been infiltrated by Microsoft X-Bots again?

Like a lot of people, I'm surprised Game is even still a thing in this country. Really can't see them lasting the year, and perhaps this is a sign of them prepping the ground to pull out of the highstreet completely. Surely the only future for these guys is online or bankruptcy at this point.

@LastFootnote I remember somehow, someway getting stuck in the tutorial section of the first game. It was definitely Twilight Princessque in its leisurely opening section.

I would love, love, love that Prime 2 remaster that you all seem to think is a dead cert to be released but truth be told I really don't see it happening. The Prime Remaster was wonderful, but I think people underestimate just how much work had to be put in behind the scenes to make it happen. I just don't think there's enough profit in it for Nintendo at the end of the day to do the whole series like that, and surely we'd have heard by now if they were aiming to stagger the trilogy in the run up to Metroid Prime 4. On the other hand I will happily indulge in baseless optimism for a Xenoblade Chronicles X port, since that series has really picked up steam on the Switch.

I'm glad joining the Nintendo family has been such a positive experience for him so far. Hopefully there's more lifetimes of dreams ahead of him to look forward to, too.

Smash itself should be retired, honestly. It's a fool's errand trying to top Ultimate if they've no plans for further DLC, and honestly I'd love to see them do what Squaresoft did when it replaced the Dissidia series with the Theatrhythm one. Nintendo are the kings of invention, surely they can come up with a new form of crossover celebration for their franchises.

@Steel76 You're wrong, Nintendo do allow fun. All the Nintendo-brand fun you could possibly want for prices as low as $49.99!

@epicgamner This is exactly the sort of anarchic hilarity Nintendo doesn't want us enjoying xD

@SwitchForce I'm sorry, it seems you're clearly passionate about the subject but I legitimately haven't a clue what you're talking about there.

Nintendo would gain nothing out of this except the potential to get embroiled in any drama that might befall the game in the future. They'd also be authorising their IP appearing on rival consoles which is, to my knowledge, something that's never happened in the past outside of incredibly niche fringe instances on basically unheard-of tech.

Gotta make room somehow for the real stars of the show, the ads.

I feel like if this was released today the punishing difficulty would be seen as a praiseworthy stylistic choice rather than an anachronistic holdover from a darker age. I remember completing it as a kid, though I probably couldn't replicate the feat now. What I chiefly remember though is that it ends bizarrely with a vocal impression that's aged like milk in the UK. I wish I was joking on that point.